On the evening of Sunday, March 29, a quarterfinal game was played in the NCAA men’s basketball tournament between UConn and Duke. If you have watched any highlights of the tournament, you have no doubt seen the incredible comeback that UConn made to win that game. In fact, the last ten seconds of that game will no doubt be one to remember for years to come.
However, it’s not the last 10 seconds that are the most impactful to me. In fact, the most impactful moment in that game isn’t just for basketball fans.
Duke was in total control of that game through the first half. Early in the second half, Duke was ahead by 19 points. UConn was not playing well to say the least.
However, there was a timeout several minutes into the second half and UConn was down 16 points at the time. During the time out, UConn’s coach, Dan Hurley, could be heard telling his team, “I can feel it. The momentum is starting to change.”
I don’t know that the momentum was really changing, but Hurley wanted his team to believe it. He needed them to believe to create hope and spark action. I don’t know if we will ever know if Hurley saw something that I didn’t see, but it doesn’t matter. The only thing that mattered was that his team believed it.
Leadership, to a great degree, is transferring belief to another.
Belief is essential for hope. Belief is the foundation for conviction. Belief guides us to identity, purpose, and impact.
I’m not a fan of Coach Hurley at all. I don’t like his coaching style, his language, or his conduct toward officials, but I can’t argue with his success, and I can’t say enough about his approach to a positive mindset.
When we believe and create hope, we focus on the possible and the positive.
It’s so easy to get caught up in the negative. When we focus on life’s trials, adversity, and disappointments, we can easily spiral in that direction. When we focus on disappointment, we see more disappointment.
We see what we look for!
However, when we reset and change our mindset, we can see hope even in the midst of disappointment. When we look for the positive, we will see differently.
Romans 12:2 tells us, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind…”.
The world is full of doubt, darkness, and disappointment. However, we can choose hope, optimism, and joy.
A good day is not necessarily one free from adversity or disappointment, but rather one that finds a way to have a good day anyway. It’s about mindset, perspective, and choice.
As Coach Hurley showed us, it starts with one person sharing a belief.
Doug equips leaders to make organizations better. He has two leadership books available on all online platforms. Whether you are looking for a speaker for your next event or a leadership coach to develop people and build an authentic team, contact Doug at doug.strickel@gmail.com and learn more about PLUS.
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